Rockies general manager Jeff Bridich said he won’t allow outside calls for change to influence his decision making.(John Leyba, The Denver Post)

Hardcore Rockies fans are getting restless, hopeful their team will make major moves this winter to spark the team out of its stupor.

That’s why there was such excitement Tuesday — both pro and con — about the Rockies reportedly expressing interest in Seattle first baseman Mark Trumbo. However, a major-league source told me that the rumors linking the Rockies to Trumbo were “overblown.”

Sure enough, on Tuesday night the Mariners traded Trumbo to the Orioles.

So what happens now?

GM Jeff Bridich told me that “some things could get done at or just after” baseball’s winter meetings that begin Monday in Nashville.

The hot speculation, of course, centers around the Rockies trading Carlos Gonzalez for pitching. Bridich, however, continues to reiterate his statement that his “eyes and ears are open to anything.”

These will be Bridich’s second winter meetings as the Rockies’ chief architect, so I asked him if he’ll approach the meetings differently than he did last winter in San Diego.

UPDATE: Wilin Rosario on Tuesday chose to become a free agent, instead of accept a minor-league assignment after the Rockies outrighted him to the minor-leagues Monday night. He most likely will not return to the Rockies next season.

Wilin Rosario returned to his natural perch behind home plate last month. He’s in a catcher platoon for Águilas Cibaeñas in the Dominican Winter League, hitting a robust .338/.402/.459 in 74 at-bats.

Colorado catcher Michael McKenry, who regularly sits behind the plate for Jorge De La Rosa, sat out Wednesday with a right knee injury. He has been unavailable this week, but will be cleared to play Friday, Weiss said.

“Mack is a little nicked up right now,” Weiss said.

McKenry underwent season-ending left knee surgery in 2013 when he played for the Pirates.

A lone fan stands in the left field grandstand to watch the Rockies commit a final out against the Giants after a rain delay in the bottom of the ninth inning Friday. (David Zalubowski, The Associated Press)

The Rockies and Giants returned to Coors Field late Friday night to finish a long-delayed ninth inning. They ran out to a rain-soaked outfield with a sulfur smell in the air and smoke around the stadium lights.

It all ended five hours and 27 minutes after it started.

In one of the strangest games at the house of weird, Coors Field, the Rockies and Giants finally finished the ninth inning after rain-delay, in-game fireworks; a for-naught singles rally in the last half inning; a towering third-deck homer; a pretty good start from Rockies veteran Kyle Kendrick; and a very good start from Giants lefty Ryan Vogelsong.

“That was very strange, to watch fireworks before the game was over,” Rockies second baseman DJ LeMahieu said. “But I guess you have to make the fans happy so they can leave.”

Troy Tulowitzki is tagged out at home by Phillies catcher Cameron Rupp in the third inning Thursday at Coors Field. (Doug Pensinger, Getty Images)

Base path acumen is a difficult piece of baseball to quantify, at least in total. Fangraphs gives it a shot with their Base Running (BsR) stat. They take stolen bases, caught-stealings, extra bases, times throw out, etc., and pile them up into a number that is either above (+) or below (-) league average.

The Rockies, not surprisingly, ranked second to last in baseball before Thursday at -5.0. Only the White Sox, 30th at -10.4, are worse.

Milwaukee — It was the kind of night that I’ll remember late into the summer, even when the games start bleeding into one another during the long, 162-game season.

There was much more to the Rockies’ 5-4, 10-inning victory than Wilin Rosario’s game winning homer off Francisco Rodriguez. More to it than Carlos Gonzalez’s grand 466-foot homer that nearly reached the giant video board beyond center field.

There also was this: Catcher Nick Hundley running up and hugging reliever John Axford after Axford closed out the game in the 10th.

Rockies reliever John Axford is going back to Phoenix Thursday to be with his son, Jameson, who is recovering from a rattlesnake bite. (John Leyba. The Denver Post)

“This one’s for Jameson,” Hundley said.

Jameson, in case you haven’t heard, is Axford’s 2 1/2-year-old son, who remains in a Phoenix-area hospital receiving treatment for rattlesnake bites he suffered late in spring training.

The prognosis is better for Jameson, and he won’t have to have any toes amputated, but the snake’s venom did considerable tissue damage and it could take another six weeks before Jameson will be discharged from the hospital.

It was only six years ago that Nolan Arenado, the Rockies’ two-time Gold Glove third baseman, was a star on El Toro (Lake Forest, Calif.) High School’s varsity baseball team.

During his junior season at El Toro, in 2007-08, Arenado batted .456 with 32 RBIs and 33 runs while helping the Chargers win a Southern Section Division II championship and earning All-Southland team honors by the Los Angeles Times. His senior year, he had a .517 batting average, .615 on-base percentage, five homers and 14 doubles while, again, earning All-Southland honors by the L.A. Times.

Arenado was also a right-handed pitcher at El Toro, posting a two-year (2007-09) record of 3-1 with a 3.15 ERA over 20 innings with 17 hits, 26 strikeouts, eight walks and nine earned runs.

Surprise, Ariz. — Chad Bettis wasn’t just a flamethrower Thursday night against the Rangers. He was a pitcher.

Commanding his fastball down and away and mixing in a confounding changeup — he said it was the best he’d ever thrown it — Bettis allowed two runs on three hits over four innings. He struck out four. His only major mistakes were hitting Robinson Chirinos to open the third and then hanging a curveball that Leonys Martin clobbered for a two-run homer. He never lost his composure and set the Rangers down in order in the fourth, finishing with strikeouts of Ryan Rua and Carlos Peguero.

Rockies starter Chad Bettis, sent down to Triple-A on Sunday, was impressive in a Cactus League start against the Rangers on Thursday night. (Doug Pensinger, Getty Images)

Bettis was sent down to the minors on Sunday, but he remains a real option for Colorado’s rotation during the regular season if the other young starters stumble.

Though Bettis said he threw his changeup better than he ever has, that’s not been his major project this spring.

“We’ve been working on throwing the fastball down and away,” he said. “We changed all of my mechanics so I can get to that spot, anytime I wanted to. So everything works off of that now. It’s fun.”

Hits

* Wilin Rosario, getting the start at first base, made a beautiful play to end the Rangers’ fifth inning. Rosario speared a line drive by Martin.

* The Rockies’ offense was anemic — until it put up three runs in the ninth — but Corey Dickerson managed two hits.

Misses

* For much of spring training, lefty Rex Brothers has resembled the reliever from 2013. In the eighth inning Thursday night, he looked like the lost pitcher from 2014. It wasn’t pretty. Brothers, throwing high out of the strike zone, struggled with his command. In two-thirds of an inning, he gave up four runs on four hits, walked one and uncorked a wild pitch that led to a run.

* Outfielder Brandon Barnes is still searching for his swing. He went 0-for-3 and is batting .194 this spring.

GLENDALE, Ariz. — It was not a command performance for Rockies right-hander Jordan Lyles.

His four innings against the White Sox on Tuesday afternoon were cluttered with five runs (all officially unearned), two hits, a walk and two hit batters.

The Rockies beat Chicago 7-6 at Camelback Ranch.

The fourth inning was a mess. Lyles plunked Melky Cabrera and Jose Abreu to open the inning and was then hurt by a rare error by second baseman DJ LeMahieu, who let Adam LaRoche’s grounder get through to right field. Lyles got two outs before Gordon Beckham rapped a two-run double and Tyler Flowers hit a two-run homer.

The Rockies’ Nick Hundley throws to second base between innings against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim on March 17, 2015. (Norm Hall, Getty Images)

GLENDALE, Ariz. — With the opener in Milwaukee just 13 days away, there are strong indications that the Rockies will open the season with three catchers on their roster.

Nick Hundley, unquestionably, is the primary man behind the plate. Michael McKenry’s defense, bat and ability to work with the young pitchers just might have earned him a spot on the 25-man roster. Wilin Rosario, still learning on the job, will be the primary backup at first base behind Justin Morneau, as well as providing a big bat off the bench.

“Honestly, the way that it looks like it’s heading, is if we carry the two catchers in Hundley and McKenry, then Rosario lines up now as that half half-catcher who plays first base,” manager Walt Weiss said Tuesday before the Rockies played the White Sox.

Weiss reasons that having both Rosario and McKenry gives the Rockies flexibility off the bench — at least offensively.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — There were plenty of eyes focused on Jon Gray when he took the mound Monday afternoon at Salt Rivers Fields. The right-hander kept those eyes wide open with an impressive performance.

When the Rockies cut veteran Jhoulys Chacin on Sunday, Gray’s candidacy for the starting rotation moved closer to reality. He responded with four scoreless innings vs. the Brewers. His fastball sizzled between 93-95 mph and topped out at 97. He allowed two hits, struck out two and walked none. Gray threw 44 pitches, 33 for strikes.

The Rockies beat the Brewers 5-1 after eight innings.

Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, coming back from hip surgery, made three highlight-reel plays Monday against the Brewers. (Chris Carlson, The Associated Press)

Asked if he went to the mound thinking about the open spot in the rotation, Gray said: “It’s something I have thought about, but I didn’t let it eat me up. The only thing I can control is going out there and pitching.”

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Spring training is all about building up starting pitchers.

For the Rockies, Friday was a very good day as starters Tyler Matzek and Jon Gray turned in solid performances.

The Rockies beat the White Sox 5-2 at at Salt River Fields. Colorado improved to 5-4-2.

The lefty Matzek, a lock to be in the regular-season starting rotation, bounced back from a tough last outing to pitch a terrific three innings against the Chicago White Sox at Salt River Fields. He slowed down his delivery, commanded his fastball and worked efficiently. He threw 38 pitches, 25 for strikes. (See above video).

The result was three scoreless innings in which he allowed on hit, walked one and struck out three.

He opened the game by striking out Chicago’s Adam Eaton, got Emilio Bonicacio to ground out to second and then whiffed Jose Abrue.

“He was sharp,” manager Walt Weiss said. “He had good command of his fastball today. And he also threw some good changeups, which is something he’s been working on this spring. He threw a couple to get back into counts, which was good to see.”

PEORIA, Ariz. — Troy Tulowitzki doesn’t make a lot of spring training road trips, but he was glad to be on the diamond Wednesday afternoon against the Mariners at Peoria Sports Complex.

In just his second Cactus League game, the Rockies all-star shortstop ripped a solo homer to right-center off right-hander Erasmo Ramierz in the first inning. In the bottom of the inning, Tulo made a leaping catch on a line drive by Kyle Seager, robbing him of a hit.

“It is encouraging, to see him go up and get that ball on defense, especially,” manager Walt Weiss said. “It was good to see. We knew he could hit, but to see him move around like that on defense was encouraging.”

Three of the Rockies’ top prospects combined to score three runs in the top of the ninth to beat the Mariners 4-1. Ryan Casteel hit a run-scoring double to chase home Mike Tauchman; Will Swanner hit a single to score Casteel; and Kyle Parker blasted a double to score Swanner.

It was just a half day’s work for Tulowitzki, who walked in his second at-bat, but it was a satisfying afternoon. (See video below).

Rockies outfielder Charlie Blackmon (John Leyba, The Denver Post)

Outfielder Charlie Blackmon, slowed by an abdominal strain, made his Cactus League debut. He went 0-for-2 with a strikeout.

“It was good to be back out there with my teammates,” Blackmon said. “I was also happy that I wasn’t too tentative out there.”

Blackmon’s diagnosis of his ailment was short and sweet.

“There is something in my ab that kind of hurts a little bit when I swing, but now it doesn’t hurt anymore,” he deadpanned. “So you might want to stick with just ab strain.”Read more…

The Rockies are counting on catcher Wilin Rosario to be able to play some first base in 2015.(John Leyba, The Denver Post)

Scottsdale, Ariz. — There’s a lot riding on Wilin Rosario’s conversion into a part-time first baseman, because Rockies manager Walt Weiss made it clear Thursday that the club won’t carry three pure catchers on its 25-man roster.

“I don’t think it can be strictly three catchers,” Weiss said. “Somebody is going to have to be more versatile than just a catcher. I don’t envision carrying three catchers only.

“Obviously, you are talking about Wilin at first base. I think he’s going to be very serviceable over there and the more things he can do, the better it is for us.”

I’ll admit I was scratching my head, too, especially when nothing was being done to improve the Rockies’ wobbly starting rotation and crumbling bullpen.

But with the recent addition of right-handers Kyle Kendrick, David Hale and Gus Schlosser, at least Bridich has added some depth to the rotation. Is the starting pitching still suspect? Yes. But at least now Jon Gray and Eddie Butler won’t have to be considered backbones of the rotation this season — a role neither young pitcher should be expected to fill right now.

Wilin Rosario spent a full week at the team’s training complex in Scottsdale, Ariz., earlier this month. (AAron Ontiveroz, The Denver Post)

Catching up on various Rockies rumors and reports:

* General manager Jeff Bridich tells me that the team is confident that catcher Wilin Rosario can make the transition from catcher to first base, and possibly even right field.

Rosario spent a full week at the team’s training complex in Scottsdale, Ariz., earlier this month, working at first base and the outfield. He will also spend time at the team’s academy in the Dominican Republic before reporting for spring training around Feb. 20.

“I think Wilin has the athletic ability to do this, and he certainly has the work ethic,” Bridich said.

That said, Rosario still will be considered a catcher when he reports to spring training. The other catchers in the mix are newcomer Nick Hundley and Mike McKenry.

It will take a very good deal for the Rockies to part with first baseman Justin Morneau.(Karl Gehring, The Denver Post)

SAN DIEGO — It’s Wednesday, the final full day of baseball’s winter meetings, and thus far, the Rockies have talked and listened but taken no action.

Rumors are swirling, as they always are at the winter meetings. As Jenny Cavnar from Root Sports said to me: “It’s like a giant fantasy baseball convention.”

That said, I still believe the Rockies will make a move — or at least construct the groundwork for a deal.

Here is the latest on potential Rockies trades:

* Catcher Wilin Rosario: A number to teams have inquired about “The Bull,” most of them from the American League, where Rosario could be used as a designated hitter and a catcher. The front-runner appears to be the Rangers, who need a right-handed power bat. They have relievers that interest the Rockies, including right-handers Roman Mendez, Jon Edwards, Shawn Tolleson, Phil Kleinand Spencer Patton, as well as lefty Robbie Ross Jr.

Patrick, a third-generation Colorado native, is back for his second stint covering the Rockies. He first covered the team from 2005-2009, helping chronicle “Rocktober” in 2007 and also following the team’s playoff run in 2009.

Nick Groke has worked at The Denver Post since 1997, as a sports reporter, city reporter, entertainment writer and digital editor and producer, among other newsroom posts. He also writes regularly about boxing, soccer, MMA and NASCAR.